Start Thinking

Now is the time for hope,
For you have nothing else,
Sure, tons of folk are predicting what's next,
They're thinking of themselves,

Of where they'll be when this is all over,
Hoping ahead of you,
I know, this all sounds so pessimistic,
So please, keep continuing what you do,

Fret over each day's new dire piece of news,
That's stunting all your thoughts,
Be completely unprepared when you're told,
"Your paying job's now not."

It's a new world,
Arrange the fallen shards,
That once formed everything you believed,
Made up your only ever hand of cards.

What's Next?

If you're going to make it,
When this is all over,
When the realities of the new world,
Are finally overt,

When people who still have money to spend,
Can't wait to do just that,
You need to anticipate what they'll want,
So when they look for it, you can react,

Maybe you invent the virtual hug,
Or distancing office,
The cure for having spent too long alone,
With [you fill in the rest].

What will you want,
Once you've freedom, again?
Or are you thinking this is freedom now,
Hoping this pause in life will never end?

Sleepless Nights

Was it always like this,
Fragile and capricious?
One day you see your life for miles and miles,
Then the next day, well, this.

You hear a lot about the storm we're in,
Floating upon the sea,
That, still, we all are in different boats,
But do you think of anyone but me?

Of course you do, for we all have loved ones,
Both close and far away,
If you don't see the point I'm getting at,
I'll try another way,

We are all doomed!
P'haps that's not right, either :)
Patience isn't about waiting it out,
It's knowing one day is already here.

Happy Belated David Hume

Yesterday's your birthday,
But what could we have done?
Certainly nothing like we used to do,
Before the contagion,

Deprived of all the pomp and circumstance,
It was time to reflect,
On all of the things that you used to say,
About perception and cause and effect,

So what would you say about today's plight,
That would be of some use?
Utilitarianism could help,
Uncook this burning goose.

So let's all help,
To the maximum rate,
The most assistance to the most people,
Unencumbered by prejudice or hate.

Are You Ready For The End?

This will all be over,
So, I'll enjoy this time,
Until the world returns to what it was,
I'm just reading your mind,

But what if things actually don't change,
If this is what you've got?
Are there others preparing for that chance,
While you are behaving like it is not?

Or is it you're keeping your position,
You've never wanted much,
You were in the middle when this started,
You aren't in a rush,

To change your ways,
Sure and steady's your race,
Just because the world's diff'rent, you are not,
Maybe the new one will be just your pace.

Dr. Trump

The first drug he prescribed,
Does naught anyone's seen,
I thought at first he might have a stock in,
Hydroxychloroquine,

But then he heard Covid does not do well,
When UV light's present,
So suggested light therapy could work,
With an injection of disinfectant.

Really, he's spewing what comes to his mind,
If that's what's in his head,
"What do you have to lose?", president Trump?
Well, we could end up dead,

With poor treatment,
Which is what you suggest,
If what you say influenced nobody,
How much better we'd be's most people's guess.

Now What?

It's all winding down now,
You can throw off your mask!
Hug the next person you see on the street,
Don't e'en bother to ask,

Share drinks with friends you've not seen for so long,
Tell me, does that feel weird?
Who knows what virus there's that we don't know,
Plus, I was joking that Sars 2 is cleared,

The way we live may never be the same,
Do we even want that?
Even from my privileged perspective,
We should now change our act.

There's always room,
To improve who we are,
Forget material prosperity,
That sets an extremely low moral bar.

Try Getting Out

Take a silent moment,
Focus on your breathing,
If you have a thought, say hello to it,
Then thank it for leaving,

Continue until your whole world is black,
Blacker than it is now,
Stay in that place as long as you're able,
Away from the seclusion or the rows,

Away from the new harsh realities,
Of your true existence,
The place where everybody finds themselves,
When they abandon sense,

Your dream's portals,
To life experience,
Maybe when you return things will have changed,
Perhaps you won't see all this as a mess.

Covid Earth Day

In honor of Earth Day,
I will not drive my car,
Instead, I will stay all day in my home,
Or not venture too far,

I'll not video chat with anyone,
So, no one I will see,
I'll wear the same clothes I wore yesterday,
That I've been wearing for the last twelve weeks,

I'll turn off the tap when washing my hands,
So, about fifteen times,
I'd also bring my own bags to the store,
But they will not use mine.

I'll save paper,
Since I can't buy any,
I've printed the same side so many times,
I now use white ink to read anything.

Just Four Of Them

Of course there were problems,
Before all this began,
People living from paycheck to paycheck,
Well, that's this age's sham,

There were people who had dangerous lives,
Spouses who drank and punched,
But, at least they weren't home all the time,
Now they are angry and they're home a bunch,

Others decided to take big chances,
To try to get ahead,
Perhaps living safely years before that,
Feeling better off dead,

Then there are those,
Who took too long for risk,
Change foisted on them now, not on their terms,
Just four tragedies to come out of this.

Four Hundred and Twenty Deep Breaths

Just don't think about it,
Until the collapse comes,
At least you can live until you cannot,
Like a true champion,

Like someone with a job to go to, still,
Paid one hundred per cent,
Whose loved ones can go out when they want to,
With no fear of a global pandemic,

Someone who's fairly sure of the future,
With no anxiety,
That the country to the south will decide,
To take our secur'ty,

You have for now,
Oh God, just ignore it,
Forget everything you read before this,
It's four-twenty, baby! Focus on it.

What Are You Saying?

What is that old saying?
Ubiquitous out west,
Like, "Another day, another dollar,"
Is that what you had guessed?

I realize now, it could go either way,
When once it seemed so clear,
That dollar could be earned or could be lost,
Depending on the pandemic that year.

Are all sayings some kind of inside joke,
For peasants to be taught?
A bird in the hand's worth two in the bush,
But those ain't worth a lot.

Come on, I kid,
That's sedition, you bet,
The elite prefer to be more overt,
Another day older, deeper in debt.

The Origins

Here is what experts say,
'bout the start of SARS 2,
It did not originate in a lab,
Then brought home by the crew,

Indeed, it was contracted through a bat,
As, too, are millions more,
Diseases you will never hear about,
For they're not ones vaccines are needed for,

It probably came from a wet market,
Perchance, not bat-eating,
Animal diseases start many ways,
By them and folk meeting,

Which happens more,
As humans spread and spread,
A bat could have peed on somebody's food,
They go to market, now thousands are dead.

Is The Time Now?

There're so many people,
Who no longer have jobs,
Experts with skills they have worked so hard on,
This pandemic can't rob,

Like professional athletes without teams,
Oh, there are those as well,
Now's the time, if you have the idea,
To make a company that would excel,

To gather the energetic and smart,
For a noble pursuit,
A venture for those who need a new start,
No virus can refute.

You say, too soon?
Let life first start again?
Of course, assuming that the life you had,
Was built upon an ideal foundation.

Just Ignore This

Holy mother fucker,
Did I say that out loud?
We all need to yell the odd expletive,
Ev-ery then and now,

History is not unfamiliar with,
Catastrophic declines,
I didn't live through the Great Depression,
But it left millions of workers behind,

It was real, and the debate still goes on,
How it even began,
Of all the consequences of Covid,
It could happen again.

Is that too harsh?
Let's not think about it,
It's one of the reasons banks get bailed out,
While the rest of us must wallow in debt.

A Little Comfort

Not to get too morose,
But we all have our days,
When no other outcome's conceivable,
That's not filled with dismay,

The future's tenuous the best of times,
All we have to soothe us,
Is an illusion of control o'er fate,
While knowledge of what's to come's dubious,

What's different now is we're facing the truth,
The naked emperor,
Bereft of distractions from who we are,
What is all of this for?

Forget Covid,
It has always been there,
The chance that your world could be upended,
All you have built vanished into thin air.

Reality Check

Those moments fear returns,
Thinking you'll lose it all,
Not enjoying this new reality,
Prophesying the fall,

Its imminence a foregone conclusion,
Maybe it's trite to say,
But no matter what's happening 'round you,
Your destruction could happen any day,

All you can ever do is do your best,
While hoping for the same,
Of course some circumstances are preferred,
I'm not friggin' insane,

Just hope to help,
The only way I know,
Short of bustling out in this brave new world,
I am too paralyzed by fear to go.

When This Is Done

Maybe it's not alright,
Things won't turn out okay,
Government policies fail to keep,
Destitution at bay,

This economic shock will put us down,
We will not recover,
From the ashes of this society,
We'll have to build some kind new structure,

But who will rise to decide what that is,
Before the elite do,
Those with power from this broken machine,
Who used to oppress you?

Will it be you?
Please try for improvements,
Keep what is good and only discard bad,
Save people's rights and the environment.

The Real You

Do the days feel longer?
You may have had enough,
Is time flying by faster than ever?
You may have had enough,

Will you feel cheated if it all ends now,
For you expected more,
Or will you have come out the worse for wear,
Having lost job, loved ones or a front door?

Have you been inside an epicenter,
Of the contagion,
Or observing, untouched, from the outside,
Hoping it don't come in?

What have you been,
During this force majeure?
If nothing else you will learn who you are,
You have to be yourself, 'til there's a cure.

In Retrospect

Governments knew sooner,
Than when actions were made,
Knowledgeable bodies warned pandemic,
That plans now must be laid,

We had the experience of SARS 1,
I blame short memories,
We all flew and shook hands willy-nilly,
While it hovered far away overseas,

Now we blame WHO for not yelling out loud,
Hey, it's a pandemic,
As if they wouldn't have been laughed of stage,
By the body pol'tic,

In fact, they were,
Vis a vis the U.S.,
Truth be told, there's still laughter in the halls,
Of the mansions of the country-club set.

Get Used To It

This new reality,
Isn't new, anymore,
We're past the curiosity of it,
We're over being bored,

Self-improvement's become annoying,
Runners shunned like the plague,
The only thing we do more than sleep now,
Is line up for things we can barely pay,

We want to interact with friends in flesh,
Not on a TV screen,
We don't want to wash our windows again,
For what there's to be seen,

Just set us free,
Wait, I know that can't be,
It might be that we have to change our minds,
To adjust to this old reality.

Analysing From One Centre

Maybe you have travelled,
Or, maybe you've traveled,
Between two places with different laws,
For when viruses kill,

You might expect your neighbour to help you,
If you were out of food,
But perhaps your neighbor stockpiled his own,
But says if he had some to give, he would,

You might take offence when the rules are shirked,
Of social distancing,
Whereas, in defense of freedom of self,
Others might go dancing,

It's a thin line,
That separates the two,
One holds dialogue twixt people and gov,
While in the other dialog's eschewed,

In The Face Of Adversity

We'll never be the same,
Not that we ever are,
Each day we must face diverse challenges,
That strips one more cover,

From the person that's ultimately you,
Though you are never reached,
Whether dealing with the trauma of death,
Or a man who will never be impeached,

You might lose your job due to pandemic,
You may run out of milk,
Someone might tell you that you're horrible,
This all proclaims your ilk,

Embrace challenge,
What else could living be?
When else are you called to reveal yourself?
I guarantee you will like what you see.

To The Healers

It's just reality,
For everyone you see,
You cross the street to avoid walking close,
It's not effrontery,

You refuse to visit your relatives,
Or have friends come over,
Peak out the curtains if the doorbell rings,
Which rarely happens in this brave new world,

Unspoken awareness of what we know,
No need to spew it out,
We wear masks that we'd eschewed in the past,
We made ourselves, no doubt.

Still people die,
Some see it everyday,
Up close, in the most contagious setting,
In battle, what courage humans display,

Second Chances

This is when things get sad,
If they're not already,
The euphoria of the shock has waned,
Now it's reality,

All the uncertainty of what's to come,
Not knowing when it will,
After all the weeks of self improvement,
You have to acknowledge you're yourself, still.

You didn't do it before, so why think,
You will do it this time?
It's like you've finally got your second chance,
To blame, complain and whine,

But there is more,
The world is on the brink,
P'haps you'll find yourself a different one,
Much more suited to the way that you think.

If This Teaches Us Anything

Could this be the starting,
Of a new kind of life,
One based, not on our perceived differences,
Eliminating strife,

One where we recognize humanity,
As something we all share,
Acknowledging, yes, that many e'er do,
Who sacrifice a better life to care,

But economics doesn't reward that,
Only one's own desires,
What I'm suggesting is that currency,
Would value love higher?

Don't say it does,
Or it would equal pow'r,
If what we're suffering now proves at all,
Is that money for money's sake is dour.

What's Next

Uh oh, what did Trump say?
Knee jerk approach, again,
First the Global Health Security Team,
Was nixed by John Bolton,

Then nary two years later, what happens?
Well, don't have to tell you,
Though maybe someone should have convinced Trump,
Weeks ago, that this is not just a flu,

Now in a flail and the US scrambling,
With no GHST,
He tells 3M, "no masks to Canada."
He say, 'military'?

Well, not quite yet,
They're mostly all abroad,
He will next abandon his foreign "plans",
For the shiny thing makes him feels like God.

Oxford Bags

Groceries cost more, now,
People are making less,
Many have lost their jobs all together,
An uncleanable mess,

Canadians were already in debt,
It is like Oxford Bags,
That book anticipated that the world,
Would have to one day eliminate cash,

Just stamp value on individuals,
Depending what they do,
No one starves, still no one gets farther than,
How they have labelled you.

But before that,
There'll be a lot of pain,
Our children, not knowing what it was like,
Like us, will only have cause to complain.

Taking It Down

I've been doing Qi Gong,
I thought it was Tai Chi,
You would think that all this time to myself,
I could know what I mean,

The one is meant to cure specific ails,
Not the one going round,
The other keeps you healthy in and out,
Body balanced and your mind calm and sound,

This, more than Covid, has toppled my world,
It's under my control!
Next I will find I've been walking backwards,
Or what is clean is coal.

Sounds trite, I know,
It's all I've got left for,
Maybe tomorrow I can consider,
The continued felling of life, once more.

April Fools!

Has it all been for this?
Distancing from loved ones,
Loneliness for those living by themselves,
And in isolation,

Businesses closing inevitably,
Few could survive this drought,
Existing friction amplified with those,
With whom you must figure custody out,

Jobs lost, dreams crushed, opportunists rejoice,
Debt more common than not,
Forget refugees crammed in germy camps,
Or what our nurses got.

Is it a joke?
One big April fools prank?
No need to wait until just before noon,
This morning is good for the reveal, thanks.